A DJ since 1980, Windsor, Berkshire, England-based Dakeyne went on to become in-house producer to the DMC organisation in 1986. Having remixed for Bass-O-matic, Erasure, James Brown and C+C Colour Factory, Dakeyne became one of the resident DJs at U2’s Kitchen club. He went on to establish the Zone club night in North London, and launched Zone Ranger, alongside Terri Heywood (vocals), Matt Eld (keyboards) and Suzanne (dancer). They made their debut with the double a-side ‘2 Be Reel’/’Kaleidoscope Girl’, the latter remixed by 808 State’s Eric Powell. ‘2 Be Reel’ included a sample drawn from Echo & The Bunnymen’s ‘The Cutter’. However, for the stock release on Omen, Dakeyne was forced to recreate the keyboard section when he failed to gain clearance for the sample. It would not be the last time Dakeyne’s career has suffered at the hands of the copyrighters. A side project, at first veiled in secrecy, saw Dakeyne introduce Tinman. Tinman became instantly famous for ‘18 Strings’, inspired by Nirvana, which had a devastating effect when it was released as a white label at the end of 1993. His intention was to re-record the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ riff, rather than sample it, like Abigail’s ‘Teen Spirit’ on Klone Records, thereby simplifying sample clearance. The move backfired horribly. Though the 20 white labels mailed to DJs were hugely successful, changing hands for £150, Dakeyne was unable to get full permission on the track from Nirvana manager John Silva - which ironically would not have been required had it been merely ‘sampled’. To make matters more complicated, after Kurt Cobain, Nirvana’s singer, died, the track, though still hugely popular, was held in limbo and ineligible for release on London. It finally emerged on 14 August 1994, by which time the Abigail version had already charted.